The First Four Days

Our Ride to Montana is off to a great start.  We've had good weather and beautiful scenery as we took the long way from Seattle to our cabin in Plain.  On day one, I took the Burke-Gilman Trail to connect with my friends Jim and Diana, a St. Louis couple I met on my west coast trip last year, in Sammamish.  We followed the Redmond-Fall City road through Fall City, then on to Snoqualmie and North Bend, where we met the John Wayne Pioneer Trail (JWPT).  We traveled 14 miles east on this former railroad right-of-way to camp at a beautiful campsite on a stream.  At this remote location we had no potable water and cooked our meals with stream water we boiled and added to our de-hydrated meals.  After traveling 64 miles, much of it up hill, I slept well, despite the noisy stream just outside my tent.

On day two we continued on the JWPT to Cle Elum where we had lunch and prepared to begin the climb up Blewett Pass in 100 degree plus heat.  We had considered heading further east on the JWPT but had good information from a friend heading further east on that trail, who started three days before us, that the condition of the trail was too difficult for heavily-loaded touring bikes.  So we decided to head north over Blewett, which has a great shoulder and beautiful scenery.  We again camped at a nice campsite about 16 miles up the pass, but this time we had drinkable water.  We covered 54 miles on day two.

On day three we started out with a climb to 4,102, the top of Blewett, and began a long, beautiful downhill run to intercept US 2, about five miles east of Leavenworth.  After a nice lunch in that Bavarian Village we headed north up the Chumstick Highway to Plain and our cabin in the Ponderosa Estates, where we spent a very restful day four nest to the Wenatchee River.  We covered 53 miles on day three.   Tomorrow, we will head east on US 2 to Wenatchee and points further east.